No Conditioning Classes For 1945, Says Bingham

Freshmen will not be required to take part in conditioning exercises this spring, it was announced yesterday by William J. Bingham '16, director of physical education. Yardlings can meet the new compulsory athletic requirement by participating in a regular sports four periods a week, he revealed, and are to be exempted from the purely toughening end of the new program.

Outlining further details of the program, Bingham emphasized that this spring would inevitably be a transition period, during which adjustments to the tremendous additional burden placed on the athletic facilities would have to be made. The decision to exempt members of this year's Freshman Class from the conditioning exercises was taken in order to lighten the burden on these facilities, he declared.

"In addition almost 40% of the Class of '45 has already taken six weeks of compulsory toughening exercises apart from their regular sports," he said. Since the Freshman athletic program has been in operation all year, he said, it would be too bad to change it for the last six weeks.

Concerning upperclassmen, Bingham announced that the aim of his department was to provide a good physical workout four times a week. "I do not have in mind producing a group of supermen between now and June," he said, "I want to make the transition between peace-time leisure and wartime obligation a gradual one."

Response Encouraging

The response of undergraduates to the program has been very encouraging, he stated. For the comparatively few who have complained, there have been scores who have expressed gratitude for the requirement," he said. Nevertheless, he reiterated the warning that cuts under the system will be referred to the Dean's Office for disciplinary action.

Conditioning Emphasized

Emphasizing his opinion that the intercollegiate and intramural programs were still valuable, he stated that the department would try to retain the best features of both. "In the case of our intramural teams," he said, "we intend to shift the emphasis from recreation to conditioning.

Efforts will be made, he declared, to cooperate with undergraduate organizations that foster activities which fit into the exercise program. In addition to credit given to participants in bicycle trips, he revealed, members of the Ski Club will be credited with one day exercise if they ski over a weekend.